Uncertain Brexit negotiations over a contested border, a troubled past, debates over sovereignty. It might sound familiar, but we’re not talking about Northern Ireland.
“I don’t care if this is English, British or even French, we would just like to live together and have a pleasant life. We don’t care about politics,” says Jose. He is one of the many thousands of workers who make the journey into Gibraltar every day from Spain. He’s been doing it for 30 years, working mostly in hospitality.
“I would like the border to disappear,” he tells me, standing beside a statue celebrating Spanish workers in Gibraltar.
The small but significant British overseas territory lies at the southern end of the Iberian peninsula. It was not included in the permanent post-Brexit deal which now governs the UK’s relations with the EU. Instead, it has been operating on ad hoc arrangements.
The people of Gibraltar are fiercely patriotic, often called “more British than the British”. But the reality is more complex.
The territory voted by 96% to stay part of the EU in 2016’s referendum.
English is the official language, but people also speak Spanish, often switching between the two in a form of code switching they call Llanito.
Thousands of people cross the border regularly, to work, shop or to see family.
There is a great affection for Spain and its people, but an intense suspicion of the Spanish state.
It has meant that discussions over their future relationship have been sensitive, to say the least. The talks resume in London on Thursday.
Officially, they are between the UK and EU, but Gibraltar’s chief minister Fabian Picardo is at the table too. It is he who will have to sell any deal, if one is reached, but he knows it will not be easy to please everyone.
